seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 Kings 11:1 When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family. 2 But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram[a] and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes, who were about to be murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah; so he was not killed. 3 He remained hidden with his nurse at the temple of the Lord for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.
a. 2 Kings 11:2 Hebrew Joram, a variant of Jehoram
When Jehu murdered Joram and Ahaziah for God.... Jehu became king of Israel but no king was put on the thrown of Judah. Now we learn that Jehosheba saved Joash. Now Joash was the son of Ahaziah. So Ahaziah [king of Judah who went bad and started hanging out with Baal worshipers and subsequently murdered by Jehu while Ahaziah tried to escape in a chariot] had a son who's name was Joash. Ahaziah's sister hid him in a bedroom for six years!
This is not the same situation as when Moses' mom put him in the river to save him. Ahaziah was use to a certain way of life. She worshiped Baal. She was married to the high priest so she wielded quite a bit of power herself. There was a war going on, Syria was attacking Israel so it was fairly easy to keep this kid held for a while.
This commentary is from GodVine.
Athaliah, as wife of Joram and mother of Ahaziah, had guided both the internal and the external policy of the Jewish kingdom; she had procured the establishmeut of the worship of Baal in Judaea 2 Kings 8:18, 2 Kings 8:27, and had maintained a close alliance with the sister kingdom 2 Kings 8:29; 2 Kings 10:13. The revolution effected by Jehu touched her nearly. It struck away from her the support of her relatives; it isolated her religious system, severing the communication with Phoenicia; and the death of Ahaziah deprived her of her legal status in Judaea, which was that of queen-mother , and trausferred that position to the chief wife of her deceased son. Athaliah, instead of yielding to the storm, or merely standing on the defensive, resolved to become the assailant, and strike before any plans could be formed against her. In the absence of her son, hers was probably the chief anthority at Jerusalem. She used it to command the immediate destruction of all the family of David, already thinned by previous massacres 2 Kings 10:14; 2 Chronicles 21:4, 2 Chronicles 21:17, and then seized the throne.
Jehosheba ... sister of Ahaziah - "Half-sister," according to Josephus - daughter of Joram, not by Athaliah, but by another wife. She was married to Jehoiada the high priest, and was thus in a position to save and conceal her nephew, Joash, who was only one year old.
In the bedchamber - literally, "in the chamber of mattresses" - probabIy a store-room in the palace in which mattresses were kept.
In the bedchamber - literally, "in the chamber of mattresses" - probabIy a store-room in the palace in which mattresses were kept.
And Athaliah did reign over the land - In these words the writer dismisses the entire reign of Athaliah, whereof he scorns to speak. We gather incidentally from 2 Kings 12:5-12, compared with 2 Chronicles 24:7, that Athaliah used her power to establish the exclusive worship of BaaI through the kingdom of Judah, and to crush that of Yahweh. She stopped the temple service, gave over the sacred vessels of the sanctuary to the use of the Baal priests, and employed the temple itself as a quarry from which materials might be taken for the construction of a great temple to Baal, which rose in the immediate neighborhood.
Witch... stole a baby and hid him away.... took over his throne and then set up a temple to Baal. I don't like this woman.... can you tell?
